


something dumb to do

by kaci3PO



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, chroniclesofcisco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-18 02:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5894356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaci3PO/pseuds/kaci3PO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry asks Cisco to vibe on his future wedding. Cisco's surprised to find that he's seen it before.</p><p>Based on an entry at the ChroniclesOfCisco official Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	something dumb to do

**Author's Note:**

> That post was FlashVibe AF and someone had to write it. If you haven't read it yet, enjoy: http://chroniclesofcisco.tumblr.com/post/138501684285/my-head-is-still-throbbing-from-eobard-thawnes

"So, I've been thinking," Barry says, clearly trying to sound casual. "If you can see the future and I can change the past, we basically have time on lock down."

Cisco considers this, then shrugs. "Yeah, I guess so."

"And if all you have to do to see the future is put on those goggles, you could wear them while you're doing comms for me. I'd always know what their next move was."

"I don't think so. A fight happens too fast for me to see anything accurate. As soon as you avoided a punch you were meant to take, the timeline would change. I couldn't keep up."

"Oh," Barry says, sounding disappointed. "Hey! You could check on something else for me."

Cisco sighs and gives up on the article he's trying to read and looks up at Barry. He looks like an overeager puppy, all big eyes and heart on his sleeve.

"What do you want me to see?"

"Remember last year, that newspaper in the time vault? The byline said Iris West-Allen."

"Uh-huh."

"But a lot changed after that, didn't it? I mean, we erased an entire person from history. I was just wondering if you could look for my wedding and make sure I still marry her."

"Are you sure you want to know that? Don't you want it to be a surprise?"

"What, like you haven't looked to see your wedding?"

"I have," Cisco says lightly. "Or I started to anyway. I saw Joe officiating and you standing beside me, but I stopped when I heard the rustle of a dress. I realized that not knowing is part of the fun of dating."

"But I already know," Barry points out. "I'm just asking you for confirmation. You don't have to tell me who it is if it's not her, and if it is her, I already know, right?"

Cisco mentally pokes at that statement, trying to decide if there's anything objectionable, but finds that it's a fairly rational point. Sighing, he says, "Fine, go get the gog—" Before he can finish, Barry's flashed off and back and is holding out the goggles to him like a dog bringing their master a stick. He even has the same excited and hopeful look on his face.

Cisco gives him a few seconds to change his mind, then sighs and takes the glasses out of his hands. "Promise you won't hound me about this if it's not her."

"I won't," Barry promises, so Cisco slips on the goggles.

Time and space spread out before him as he focuses on Barry. Time narrows down before him into Barry's life, opening itself like a book to be read. He witnesses Barry's birth, the beauty of his mother's face as she holds him for the first time in her arms. He sees Barry's first day of school, the bullies who hated him even before his father's prison sentence. He sees Nora Allen's murder, the fear and brutality of it and instinctively he reaches out towards the Barry in his mind's eye. It takes him a moment to realize that he's actually reached out and taken the grown-up Barry's hand, but Barry's not pulling it back so Cisco holds on.

The physical contact helps him as it always has and time rapidly zips itself forward, Barry's teen years flying by in an impression of awkwardness and puberty. It slows down as it reaches present day, creeping along through brief glimpses of holidays and metahuman attacks. And then he reaches a church. Barry's standing at the front, grinning broadly as he looks at Cisco on his right. Between them, Joe stands holding a Bible. Cisco smiles and opens his mouth to tell Barry — the only reason Cisco would be his best man instead of Iris is if she were the _bride_ — and then Joe starts talking.

He sees himself shaking with nerves and then his eyes flick to Barry's and he realizes with a sudden rush of fear that this is the same wedding he saw when he looked forward to his own. He looks up at Barry's smile and that look...Cisco would never forget that look. _Could_ never. His own eyes filled with absolute adoration and love.

Slowly, Joe's words filter through his senses and finally, Cisco hears his speech for the first time. "We are gathered here today to join these two young men in marriage. And I think I speak for all of us when I say, 'It's about damn time!'" The guests laugh appreciatively at the joke and Barry's face flushes an embarrassed, delicate pink. Cisco squeezes his hand tightly.

He realizes half a second too late that he's actually squeezing Barry's hand, the Barry who's standing before him waiting to find out if he's ever going to marry Iris. Cisco jerks his own hand back with enough force that his roller chair goes sliding as he rips the goggles off his face. When he finally wills himself to meet Barry's eyes, he finds the same confusion on Barry's face as must be on his own.

"What happened?" Barry asks. "Are you okay? Did I push you too far or—"

"You don't marry Iris," Cisco blurts. Barry's face crumples and every fiber of Cisco's being aches with the instinct to comfort his friend. His future husband. But this news isn't the sort that's best dropped in close proximity, so he stays where he is and watches.

"Oh," Barry says. "I guess— I guess erasing him changed the timeline or—"

"You marry me."

Barry's eyes snap up to his and for a moment they just stare at each other until Barry gives a forced, awkward laugh. "Ha ha, really funny, Cisco. Fair enough, I shouldn't have made you look."

"You marry me," Cisco repeats. His voice comes out dull and lifeless and he hates this. He shouldn't have said anything. He could've just said 'it isn't Iris' and left it alone but in his panic, keeping it a secret had felt like both a burden and a betrayal.

"I—" Barry starts, clearly at a loss for words, and Cisco can _see_ the moment that Barry realizes he isn't kidding. His eyes widen and he places a fist at each of his temples, just staring at Cisco in silence and shock.

"How did that even happen?" Barry asks. "Us, I mean."

"I don't know," Cisco answers quietly. "I didn't see that part. I can look again, if you—" He lifts the glasses to his face but before he can put them on, Barry's closed the distance between them and yanked them out of his hand. He's so close that Cisco's at eye level with his groin and Cisco shuts his eyes, reaching desperately into his memory to recall the words of the Hail Mary. _Hail Mary, full of grace…_

"Don't," Barry says quietly. "We shouldn't— we shouldn't look."

Cisco nods, eyes still closed. He gives up on remembering the prayer. It's not going to help him now anyway.

"When?"

"I don't know that, either," Cisco answers. He feels Barry start to move away and he opens his eyes to watch Barry lean against the desk, a more normal distance between them. "The future can change," he says consolingly. "Especially now that we know about it. You said it yourself, between us we're pretty much the masters of time."

"I—" Barry says. "Is that what you want? For me to change it?"

"Yes?" Cisco says, and it is absolutely a question. "No. I don't know. You seem upset. I just— we have free will. If things between us ever...go that way, we can decide not to pursue it. We don't have to fall in love."

Barry's voice is so quiet that Cisco almost misses it when Barry says, "But what if we want to?"

"I—" Cisco puts his head in his hands. "I don't know, Barry. You came in here like a dog begging for scraps asking me about marrying Iris. That's a pretty clear signal that you don't want to marry _me._ "

"I...I never realized you were an option before."

"Are you even attracted to me?" Cisco asks. "That's a really easy way to shut this down."

"Of course I am," Barry huffs. "Look at you, you're gorgeous."

"Ha ha."

"It's not a joke, Cisco. You're ridiculously attractive, not to mention you're one of my best friends. We clicked almost the instant we met. I've known Iris my entire life and somehow within months I felt as close to you as I do her. Don't act like marrying you is some horrible thing I must be desperate to avoid. I could do a hell of a lot worse."

Cisco doesn't know where it comes from, this sudden recklessness that propels him out of his seat. Maybe it's the panic or the fear or the fire igniting low in his gut, but the words fly out of him before he can process what he's about to say.

"Fine, so kiss me."

Barry looks at him for a moment, opening and closing his mouth several times like words will magically just tumble out. Then he crosses the space between them and takes Cisco's face in his hands. Without a word, he bends down and presses their mouths together in a kiss that leaves Cisco gripping onto Barry's waist just to keep standing. Barry's mouth is so gentle against his and all he can see is the two of them, hot as hell in their tuxes and the looks on their faces when their eyes meet. This is his future _husband_.

He goes up on his tip toes, wrapping his arms around Barry's neck and deepening the kiss. He doesn't stop until Barry gets him by the thighs, hoisting him up so that he has to wrap his legs around Barry's waist. They stare at each other, both of them scared and overwhelmed, until Cisco asks, "Want to get out of here? Go to my apartment so we can talk?"

"Yeah," Barry says, and shifts Cisco in his arms to make sure he has him in a good grip. They're in his apartment a moment later.

It's awhile before they actually get around to talking.


End file.
